The Castle on the Hill
by Marauderish Mischief Maker
Summary: Professor Lily Potter survives the attack at Godric's Hollow and raises Harry at Hogwarts. Child!Harry Pre-Hogwarts fic.
1. Godric's Hollow

Chapter 1: Godric's Hollow

"Reducto!"

From the other side of furniture now reduced to a pile of ashes, Lord Voldemort regarded Lily Potter with disgust. Here was a woman without any magical upbringing daring to defy him, but he gave her the choice to step aside- a prize for a loyal servant who had pleaded for her life—and she refused.

"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry."

"Stand aside, you silly girl! Stand aside now!"

"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead —"

"This is my last warning —"

"Not Harry! Please... have mercy... have mercy... Not Harry! Not Harry! Please — I'll do anything..."

And yet still he could not kill her. He thought himself a merciful master, one who kept his word. Little did the Dark Lord know, this small act of mercy would lead to his downfall. For only Lily's refusal was needed to activate the ancient magic…

"STUPEFY!"

* * *

If any Muggles were to look up on that particular Halloween night, they would detect a slight mechanical hum in the air. They would attribute this noise to the engine of an airplane, but they would be wrong. Startled as well, if it weren't for the fact that Sirius Black had maintained enough presence of mind to use his motorbike's invisibility booster before setting off that night.

The bike flickered into existence again as Sirius skidded to a stop, gaping at the scene in front of him. Most of Potter Cottage was still standing, but the right side of the top floor had been blown apart. Sirius knew instantly that James was dead because the Potter crest ring Sirius got when he came of age (identical to the one James wore) was cold as ice against his finger where it had burned urgently not fifteen minutes before, prompting Sirius to look in on Peter. The Secret Keeper. The Rat. He hadn't even had the decency to stage a struggle in his empty house.

As far as Sirius was concerned, Peter had drained the mirth from James' eyes just as surely as if he had cast the curse himself.

A tear from Sirius' eye landed on James' own lashes as he gently closed his brother's lids before heading up the stairs James had given his life to guard.

"Lily! Harry!"

They had to be alive. They had to be.

The door to Harry's nursery lay in splinters, blasted apart by what Sirius assumed was a Reductor Curse, one powerful enough to knock Lily Potter off of her feet and send her sprawling in front of her baby son's cot.

"Mama!" Harry wailed.

There was a jagged cut on the fifteen-month-old's forehead. Sirius scooped him up instantly, kissing his bloody matted hair. "Thank Merlin you're alive!"

"Mama!" Harry wriggled in Sirius' grasp trying desperately to reach Lily.

"I know you want your mama, pup, I know."

Juggling Harry onto one hip, Sirius bent down and grazed the side of Lily's neck, gasping slightly when he felt a weak pulse.

"Lily!" he shouted, "Oh, Merlin, Lils, wake up. You need to wake up! _Finite Incantatem!_ "

The redheaded witch stirred feebly. "Sirius?" she mouthed, so faintly he had to put his ear to her lips to hear it.

"Yes, it's me. You're hurt, Lils, don't try to move."

"Harry?"

"Harry's here, he's with me. I've got you, Lils. I'm going to take you to St. Mungo's."

He took her hand, holding Harry tightly to himself and Disapparated.

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	2. A Black, Therefore A Murderer

**Guest:** Thank you, I'm glad you like it so far.

 **kristy21:** This soon enough for you? Haha. I should update once every week or two but reviews do make me update faster.

 **MoonChild913:** Thank you so much. I hope it lives up to your expectations.

* * *

 **OC Profiles**

 **Full Name:** Lyra Hestia Black

 **Parents** Sirius Orion Black and Marlene Elizabeth McKinnon

 **Birthday:** 12/22/79  
A Metamorphmagus, Lyra's original appearance is a healthy mix of her mother and her father: hair the color of a peeled banana, Sirius's grey eyes and Marlene's dimply smile.

* * *

Chapter Two: A Black, Therefore A Murderer.

Rubeus Hagrid laughed as Harry grabbed a fistful of his auburn beard. "Lil tyke. Ooh, we've got to be careful not ta wake yer mum…"

"Too late," said Lily groggily, blinking against the harsh light of her St. Mungo's hospital room. "If he's getting to be too much for you, Hagrid, just give him to Sirius."

"Can't do that, Mrs. Potter."

"What do you mean? Has Sirius gone somewhere?"

"Yeh could say that yeah. "

Lily sat bolt upright. "Hagrid, what are you talking about? Where is Sirius, and I would appreciate an honest answer, if it's all the same to you."

Hagrid was about to respond when the attending Healer entered the room. "I see she's awake. Thank you, Hagrid, I'll take it from here."

"Right, well, I s'pose I'll be getting back to the castle then. Bye-bye Harry."

"Bye," Harry chirped from his place in his mother's arms.

Lily spared a smile for her son, who seemed inordinately happy considering the events of the past twelve hours. She wondered whether he understood that his father was never coming back, or if he expected Daddy to come walking the door any minute now, fresh from a late-night shift in the Auror's office. Hopefully, Sirius would be back by the time Harry starting asking for James.

"Where's Sirius, Andromeda?"

Healer Andromeda Tonks sighed as she swept a soft brown tendril behind her ear. "He's been arrested and taken to Azkaban."

"On what charges?"

"The murders of your husband and Peter Pettigrew along with twelve Muggle bystanders. The Muggle think it was a gas explosion. Barty Crouch is calling him a Death Eater, but surely you know how much he despised our family's Pureblood ideals. He would never…"

"He didn't, he thought he was too obvious a choice, that the Death Eaters would make him right away. A week ago he suggested we use that to our advantage. He would be the decoy, while in reality, we would perform the Fidelius Charm again using Peter."

"As long as you know…"

"But I don't understand. I know Sirius must be out of his mind with grief, but even with his legendary temper, he wouldn't leave his daughter behind just to seek vengeance against the likes of Peter. He's the last person Lyra has on earth since Voldemort wiped out the whole McKinnon family. Surely, Sirius isn't the kind of person who leaves his daughter without anyone in the world!"

"She has someone, us. Sirius left Lyra at the house with Ted and Nymphadora before going off to check on James. According to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, that amounts to premeditation. But I don't want to worry about Lyra."

"I'm not worried, about her." There was no need to be. Ted and Andromeda had a beautiful nine-year-old daughter of their own; who Lily was sure would dote on her toddler cousin. "I would like to see her, though. So would Harry."

"Of course, I'll arrange it."

* * *

Lily's wish would be granted when her goddaughter appeared, three days later, at James's memorial service. Andromeda looked as funereal as everyone else in her black dress robes, but Lily noticed that compassion had softened her angular Black features. In her arms was Lyra who squealed at the sight of Harry and screwed up her face so that the only difference between the two of them was the raw lightning bolt shaped scar on Harry's forehead

Lily laughed. "Her morphing is coming along nicely."

"She and Dora have begun having competitions. I suppose it's in the Black genes."

"Lyra shouldn't be here," said a voice from behind them. "She's just a child."

Andromeda turned an icy glare toward the speaker, an exhausted-looking Remus Lupin, "So is Harry. Or are you merely objecting to the presence of _Sirius's_ child, who has just as much right to say goodbye to her godfather as his own son does? It's the one goodbye I can give her since Merlin knows Azkaban is no place for children."

"No place for Sirius, either," whispered Lily. "I've tried to speak to Minister Bagnold, but it was no use. Said she'd look soft if twelve Muggles died and she didn't do anything about it, regardless of whether the wizard who also died was a traitor or not."

Remus said nothing. Andromeda turned on him. "You believe what the Minister and Crouch are saying about him, don't you? You think Sirius is a Black and therefore a murderer!"

"He thought I was a werewolf and therefore a spy."

"Well, you're both wrong, aren't you? Happy Christmas if I don't see you, Lily."

"Happy Christmas, Andy, and 'Happy birthday' to you, little one."

When Andromeda was gone, Lily spoke, "Remus, I'm so sorry. We should've told you about the idea to switch Secret Keepers…"

"Yes, you should have."

* * *

Remus would go on to give the eulogy, speaking on James's generous nature for a solid forty-five minutes without once looking Lily in the eye. This would continue to haunt Lily even hours later when she had put Harry to bed and was sullenly perusing The Book of Magical Etymology. Penning the crossword puzzles for _The Daily Prophet_ wasn't nearly as fun without the lure of coming with a puzzle that took Sirius more than two minutes to solve.

She doubted they allowed the prisoners newspapers in Azkaban, but just in case…

* * *

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	3. Safe Haven

**Guest:** As the saying goes, "Pride goeth before the fall." Remus will find this out eventually…

 **Matelle:** Here's the new chapter, I hope you like it.

Chapter 3:A Save Haven

"Ice Mice."

The gargoyle guarding the staircase that led to the Head's office hopped aside to allow Professor Minerva McGonagall passage. The headmaster himself met her at the top of the stairs.

"Ah, Minerva, care to join me for a winter stroll?"

"If you intend this stroll to turn into another snowball fight with the students, then no thank you. Honestly, Albus, you're much too old for such foolishness."

"I find a man is only as old as he feels."

McGonagall's rebuttal was cut short when a soft golden light shone from a thick leather-bound tome on Dumbledore's shelf. The two professors rushed to see which family's newest addition had just shown their first bit of magic, in time to see the book glow a second time.

"Twins, perhaps?" guessed McGonagall.

"No. Ginevra Weasley and…how curious, it seems young Neville Longbottom has had a change in status as well."

"What sort of change in status?"

"That I do not know."

Albus Dumbledore felt no need to employ his Occlumency shields against McGonagall like he might have in other circumstances. Minerva was no Severus Snape, and for all intents and purposes it was a true statement. After all, a change of status could be as simple as Frank and Alice deciding it's finally safe enough to come out of hiding. If that were the case, they would have surely moved back into Frank's ancestral home.

"I think a visit to Longbottom Manor is in order."

"BARNABUS!"

Editor-in-chief Barnabus Cuffe looked up from his desk as cruciverbalist*, Lily Potter stormed into his office at The Daily Prophet. The fact that she had a small child on her hip did nothing to diminish the fury snapping in her emerald eyes, which were as hard as the gems they resembled. In fact, the Silencing Charm she enacted after setting Harry down in the corner made Barnabus even more fearful of the redhead's famous temper.

"Lily, what can I do for you?" he stuttered. "And may I say your public support of Sirius Black is stirring quite a controversy. I've never seen so many letters to the editor."

"I know," said Lily with poisonous sweetness. "I've read some of them! But I didn't come to talk about that. I only came to tell you that dear Rita went home for the day. Poor thing came off on the wrong side of a Stinging Jinx."

"Oh dear."

"Yes, it's a true tragedy, similar to the one that will befall you if I find out that you were the one who sicked Rita and her Quick-Quotes Quill on me. She seems to think that the reason I'm so anxious to get Sirius out of Azkaban isn't because he is, in fact, innocent of any wrongdoing, but because Harry is Sirius's biological son and we've conspired to make him look like James using a very strong Glamour Charm! She's calling me 'The Black Widow!'"

"Well, there's a headline for you."

"It's not funny, Barnabus!"

All traces of sweetness were gone from her voice. Harry witnessed the scene without toddler curiosity. Mummy appeared to be yelling but no sound was coming out of her mouth. He aped her facial expressions, drawing a laugh from the recently arrived Dumbledore who had Apparated into their midst.

"I'm afraid Harry disagrees." The adults turned to him. "I have some less amusing news, I'm afraid. Frank and Alice Longbottom were attacked in their home tonight."

"Attacked?" Lily's repeated dumbly, a knot of fear forming in her stomach.

"Tortured by a group of disenfranchised Death Eaters."

"Which Death Eaters?" Cuffe asked, his quill hovering above a fresh piece of parchment.

Lily snatched it out of the air, restraining herself from smacking him in the head with it. "How's Neville?" she wanted to know. Unlike the mercenary old editor, her main concern was for her little godson.

"He was on a play date with the youngest Weasley boy at the time."

"Oh, thank Merlin!"

"Indeed." Dumbledore inclined his head. "Augusta Longbottom has taken custody of Neville until his parents are out of St. Mungo's. Which brings me to the reason for my visit. A proposition of sorts. Professor Quirrell, our Muggle Studies teacher, has just informed me of his intentions to go on a mid-year sabbatical. It would give me great pleasure if you, Lily, would take his place."

"And Hogwarts is the most secure place to be should the Death Eaters come calling," Lily added.

"A safe haven, I assure you."

"All right, I'll do it, but there's one condition. You have to help me free Sirius."

* cruciverbalist—a person skillful in creating (or solving) crossword puzzles.


	4. Soon

**Mattelle** : Glad you enjoyed the Lily scene as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please keep reviewing.

* * *

Chapter 4: Soon

"Sir Cadogen, don't let Harry run you ragged now. And please keep him away from Peeves"

Lily smoothed her formal robes nervously. The portrait certainly wouldn't have been her first of babysitter, but she had arrived smack in the middle of the Christmas holidays and the corridors were sparsely populated.

"Harry will be fine, Lily," Dumbledore assured the young mother. Both watched as the squealing toddler paused his race with the knight to go down the slide that had appeared where a steep staircase once stood. "Hogwarts will take care of its ward. If it is your wish to free Sirius…"

"I know," said Lily as she scooped Harry up and nuzzled him. Only one other desire could come close to not letting Harry out of her sight and it was to see Sirius with his own daughter and godson as a free man. She had that opportunity now because the other day she had received a summons to take James's place on the Wizengamot at a hearing requested by convicted Death Eater, Igor Karkaroff.

"Come," said Dumbledore, holding out his arm.

Lily took it. "I thought you couldn't Apparate or Disapparate inside of Hogwarts."

"Ah, but being me has its privileges."

* * *

The light from the torch brackets hanging around the windowless dungeon did nothing to warm Lily as she watched Karkaroff being led into the room by two Dementors. The man looked as though he was about to faint as he was deposited in a chair. Chains snaked up his arms binding him there, and the dementors blessedly departed. Lily saw that she was not the only one who had recoiled in their presence.

"Igor Karkaroff," said a curt voice to Lily's right. She turned her attention to the speaking Barty Crouch. "You have been brought from Azkaban to present evidence to the Ministry of Magic. You have given us to understand that you have important information for us."

Karkaroff straightened himself as best he could, tightly bound to the chair. "I have, sir," he said, his voice scared. "I wish to be of use to the Ministry. I wish to help. I know that the Ministry is trying to—to round up the last of the Dark Lord's supporters. I am eager to assist in any way I can."

Lily had no doubt Karkaroff was eager all right, eager to save his own skin.

"Filth," growled Alastor Moody from the headmaster's other side. "Crouch is going to let him out. He's done a deal. Took me months to track him down and Crouch is going to let him go if he's got enough new names. Let's hear his information, I say, then throw him right back to the Dementors."

"Alastor!" Lily hissed.

"What's the matter, Lady Potter, don't like the Dementors."

"No, I don't

But she was spared from saying anything else when Crouch spoke again.

"You say you have names, Karkaroff. Let's hear them please."

"You must understand," said Karkaroff, hurriedly, "that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named operated always in the greatest of secrecy...He preferred that we- I mean to say, his supporters-and I regret now, very deeply that I ever counted myself among them—"

"Get on with it," sneered Moody.

"—We never knew the names of all of our fellows. He alone knew exactly who we all were." "Which was a wise move, wasn't it, because it prevented someone like you, Karkaroff, from turning them in," muttered Moody.

"Yet you say you have _some_ names for us?" said Mr. Crouch.

"I-I do," said Karkaroff breathlessly. "And these were important supporters, mark you. People I saw with my own eyes doing his bidding. I give this information as a sign that I fully and totally renounce him, and am filled with a remorse so deep, I can barely—"

"These names are," said Mr. Crouch sharply.

Karkaroff drew a deep breath.

"There was Antonin Dolohov. I—I saw him torture countless Muggles and—and non-supporters of the Dark Lord."

"And helped him do it," muttered Moody.

"We have already apprehended Dolohov," said Crouch. "He was caught shortly after yourself."

"In—Indeed? I—I am delighted to hear it."

But he didn't look it. Lily could tell that this news had come as a real blow to him. One of his names was worthless.

"Any others?" said Crouch coldly.

"Why, yes," said Karkaroff hurriedly. "There was Rosier—Evan Rosier."

"Rosier is dead," said Crouch, "he was caught shortly after you were too. He preferred to fight rather than come quietly and was killed in the struggle."

"No more than Rosier deserved," said Karkaroff, a real note of panic in his voice now. Lily watched Karkaroff's eyes dart to the closed door, where the Dementors were undoubtedly waiting.

"Any more?" said Crouch.

"Yes, there was Travers—he helped murder the McKinnons…"

"And may he burn in Hell for it," Lily seethed, visions of a smiling Lyra that Marlene would never see filling her head.

"…Mulciber—he specialized in the Imperius Curse, forced countless people to do horrific things! Rookwood, who was a spay, passed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named useful information from inside the Ministry itself."

Lily could tell that this time Karkaroff had struck gold. People were murmuring around her.

"Rookwood?" said Mr. Crouch, nodding to a witch who scribbled on the piece of parchment in front of her. "Augustus Rookwood of the Department of Mysteries?"

"The very same," said Karkaroff eagerly, "I believe he used a network of well-placed wizards both inside the Ministry and out to collect information—"

"But Travers and Mulciber we have. Very well, Karkaroff you will be returned to Azkaban while we decide—"

"Now," mouthed Dumbledore to Lily.

"Not yet, Mr. Crouch. I'd like to question Mr. Karkaroff."

Crouch looked stunned. "Lady Potter, this is highly irregular."

"I understand that. It will only take a minute."

"Very well."

"Mr. Karkaroff, have you ever known Sirius Black to take the Dark Mark, attend a meeting of the Death Eaters, or do the bidding of your precious Dark Lord?"

"I have not."

"But he just said he doesn't know every Death Eater there is," spluttered Crouch.

"Surely this honored body will investigate Lord Black's innocence with the rest of Mr. Karkaroff's claims..."

* * *

Sirius Black was dreaming. He had to be. There was no other way to explain it. Sure, the Aurors had been making fun of him waving Lily's complimentary editorials in his face and reminding him that putting her under the Imperius Curse (which he hadn't done, of course) was worth another life sentence, but even they couldn't conjure a doe Patronus. And yet, here one was standing in front of him:

"Lily?"

It was her Patronus all right, casting away the dementors. He was thinking more clearly than he had in two months. And just in case he needed any more convincing, it spoke it her voice.

"In a short time, four letters."

"Soon," he answered.

The Patronus winked and disappeared, just as an Auror appeared.

"Black, Minister Bagnold wants to see you."


End file.
